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They walked slowly along, hand in hand, and Bria listened as he told her about his best friend during his childhood. By the time they’d reached the blanket again, they were walking in silence. “Garris Shrike sounds like he’d fit in perfectly on Ylesia,” Bria said, finally.

“He’d probably wind up running the place,” Han agreed, a bleak note in his voice. He lowered himself onto the blanket and sat, arms draped across the tops of his knees, looking out to sea, his expression troubled. “I should have killed him when I had the chance, Bria. But … I didn’t.”

She dropped down beside him. “That’s because you’re a decent person, Han,” she said fiercely. “You think you’re tough, and you are—but you’re also decent. You’re no coldblooded killer like Shrike. If you’d shot him, you’d be no better than he is.”

He turned to her, his face profoundly intent, very serious. “You’re right,” he said softly. “Sometimes when things seem so confused, you make them all come clear … with just a few words. You’re a very … wise … woman …”

Bria sat perfectly still as he leaned forward and kissed her, gently, on the cheek. His lips were warm. As he started to pull away, she put her hand on his cheek. “Don’t.”

His head turned, and his lips found her mouth. He tasted of sea salt. Bria closed her eyes, and time seemed to stop.

After several long heartbeats, he drew back. Bria opened her eyes to find him searching her face. “How was that?” he asked softly, sounding a little breathless. “Okay?”

Bria was more than a little breathless. “Better than okay,” she whispered, sliding her arms around his neck, feeling the sun-warmed skin of his bare shoulders. His arms went around her, holding her tightly. “Much, much better …”

She kissed him back, and it was a long, long time before they spoke again …

The following day Mrrov and Muuurgh made ready to set off on their “honeymoon” and Bria and Han prepared to raise ship for the Corellian system.

At their final moment of parting, Muuurgh grasped Han by the shoulders and shook him, very gently. “I will miss you,” he said in his halting—but much improved—Basic. “Must you go? You like Togoria, you said so. Without you, I would never have found Mrrov. The Margrave of all Togoria has asked me to tell you that you and Bria are welcome to stay forever. You can hunt with us, Han. Fly mosgoths. We would be happy.”

Han smiled at the big alien. “And see Bria only once a year? I’m afraid that’s not the way we humans do things, pal. But thanks for the invite, Muuurgh. Maybe I’ll come back and see how you and Mrrov are doing someday.”

“Han do that, and soon,” Muuurgh said, his Basic disintegrating in the face of strong emotion. He grabbed the Corellian in a hug, scooping him clean off the ground. Han hugged him back.

Bria and Mrrov also exchanged a fond farewell. “You will conquer your need for the Exultation,” Mrrov told Bria, earnestly. “I did. For a long while after I made myself resist it, I grieved for it. But after many days, the longing eased, and now I never feel it. I let my anger against those slavers help me wipe the longing from my spirit.”

“I hope I can be as strong as you, Mrrov,” Bria said.

“You already are,” the Togorian female assured her. “You just don’t realize it yet.”

Once aboard the Talisman, Han lifted the Ylesian yacht into the clear skies of Togoria with a genuine feeling of regret. “This is a good world,” he said to Bria, who was sitting beside him in the copilot’s seat. “Good people, too.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “It was certainly good to us. I’ll never forget yesterday, if I live to be a hundred.”

Han smiled at her. “Me neither, sweetheart. All my life I wanted to go to the beach and just be able to act like a regular citizen—no scams, no security forces to worry about, no contraband burning a hole in my pocket. Thanks to you, I know what that’s like, now.”

She gave him such a tender smile that he leaned over and kissed her. “Bria … I …” Han hesitated, took a deep breath,